Determining the structure and effects of message sensation value in threatening anti-smoking adverts : a young adult perspective

Mahmoud, Hamd

Abstract

There is no doubt that anti-smoking campaigns help with other anti-smoking policy to reduce the number of smokers in the UK and indeed globally, through their cumulative effects on their target audiences. However, the effectiveness and impact of such campaigns vary according to several elements, influenced by the design and delivery of such communications.Whilst the majority of anti-smoking adverts use visual-threat-based appeals, the effects of which have been validated in changing attitudes of smokers, the structural components of such campaigns and identifying their effects remain largely unexplored. The concept of Message Sensation Value (MSV) relates to the structural components of communication content and has found some traction in understanding social marketing campaigns. How MSV relates to anti-smoking attitude change, however, remains unresolved and therefore our knowledge on the structural components of anti- smoking MSV and their influence in attitude change is limited. This study seeks to address this key knowledge gap.

This research therefore aims to determine the structure and role of MSV features in anti- smoking adverts and specifically within threatening appeals, given their prevalence and validated utility. This study examines the experience of young adult smokers and their responses in terms of emotive reaction, perceived believability and perceived effectiveness using a qualitative interview-based study design. It integrates an interpretive phenomenological orientation embedded in a Dimensional Qualitative Research (DQR) approach. The DQR approach is used to enhance the systematic and comprehensive classification of themes arising from perceptions towards anti-smoking stimuli and in doing so enables the deconstruction of the MSV into its constituent components. DQR enables advertising scholars to decode stimuli on the basis of BASIC IDS, an acronym based on Behaviour, Affect, Sensation, Image, Cognition, Interpersonal relation, Drug and Sociocultural modalities or dimensions. Addressing such adverts which contain threat appeals and MSV features, it is the first research to address MSV features in anti-smoking advert, which include threat appeals by a qualitative approach with a phenomenological orientation. For the first time, two phases of data analysis thematic analysis and dimensional qualitative research are used together to get a holistic picture of smokers’ experience with such content and their reaction according to such experience.

The findings reveal that the experiences of smokers (both past and present) with anti- smoking adverts contain some MSV features, and threat appeals vary in their type and level of threat. Young adult smokers found adverts with some high MSV features (i.e., intense scenes, unexpected format, surprise end and the action showed or described) when combined with high threat appeals (physical, social and death threat appeals). This negative and scary content in these adverts made them experience mainly fear and other negative emotions, which led them to rate anti-smoking adverts with high MSV features and high threat appeals as more believable and more effective. The results indicate that MSV features in threatening televised anti-smoking adverts work to enhance the role of threat appeals effect by intensifying the adverts arousal effect on smokers, influencing emotional response, and facilitating attention. This gives the adverts with such style and content have a positive impact on how young adults’ smokers perceived their believability and some aspects of perceived effectiveness but with no firm intention to stop smoking. It may be that smokers found anti-smoking adverts not enough to make them stop smoking because of several reasons related to smokers or anti-smoking adverts, such as addiction, social relationships with friends and other students, and sociocultural aspects(i.e. age gap) since some adverts target other age groups like older people and parents, not young adults.

Citation

Mahmoud, H. (2020). Determining the structure and effects of message sensation value in threatening anti-smoking adverts : a young adult perspective. (Thesis). University of Hull. Retrieved from https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4223029

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Mar 26, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 23, 2023
• Keywords: Business
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4223029
• Additional Information: Business School, The University of Hull
• Award Date: Apr 1, 2020